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Thriving in Midtown
By SHARON L. BOND, Neighborhood Times Business Editor
ST. PETERSBURG -- Carter's Florist and Greenhouse and Alma Ingram Flowers are long established businesses in Midtown, started decades ago by families. Alma Ingram Flowers remains in the Ingram family. Carter's Florist went through two generations of Carters and then was sold to current owners, Terry Hagstrom and Bill Russo Jr. In this area of many low-income residents, some basic services -- such as a chain-owned grocery store -- are lacking. And businesses that do exist often struggle. Yet these florists flourish. Success is the result of excellent work done over a number of years, both owners say. Alma Ingram has been in business since 1960, Carter's since 1956. Both say they have established clientele, some stretching over generations. These are not just the folks who stop in for occasional gift bouquets. These are buyers for offices, holiday decorations, weddings and funerals. Also, Alma Ingram and Carter's sell well beyond Midtown and St. Petersburg. "I have people (who have visited St. Petersburg) call me from New York to order flowers to send back to New York," said Casey Y. Ingram III. His mother, Alma Ingram, started the florist in a house the family lived in at 2000 34th St. S. The shop does a half-million dollars annually in gross sales. Carter's, at 2200 22nd Ave. S, is known for its display windows, so much so that when they are not filled, people worry the place is closing. "We have third-generation people calling us from around the country: "My grandmother still lives there and I want to send her some flowers,' " said Hagstrom. Carter's does the Christmas decorations for the Renaissance Vinoy Resort, the historic downtown hotel that was refurbished and reopened in 1992. In 2001 Carter's opened a satellite near BayWalk, the downtown St. Petersburg entertainment/retail complex that was built several years ago. Also, Carter's has branched into gift items. Ingram said about 75 percent of his business is done by telephone. Location, then, is not as much of an absolute for sales success as it is for, say, a clothing store. Ingram and his wife Elisabeth, who goes by Lily, have run the shop since 1973 when Ingram bought it from his mother after he got out of the Air Force, where he was a missile-launch officer. Both Alma Ingram and Carter's deliver all over the city, county and Tampa Bay area and fill wire and telephone orders from other states. But both also depend on their neighborhoods. "That is something we always are trying to increase," said Hagstrom of Carter's about business from the neighborhood. The community in which they operate -- Midtown -- is predominantly African-American. But these two businesses are owned by whites. Indeed, fewer than 30 percent of businesses in Midtown are black-owned. Race should not be an issue in the success of these two businesses, says Deputy Mayor Goliath Davis, the city official heading up efforts to strengthen the economy of Midtown. "They are frequented and patronized by African Americans," Davis said of Alma Ingram and Carter's. "If anything, they establish the fact there is business in Midtown and people can make money." Bob Carter is the second generation of Carters and ran the shop for a number of years. He was ready to retire 10 years ago when Hagstrom and Russo came along, having seen a blurb in a trade magazine advertising Carter's for sale. "We built there in the '50s," Carter said of his family. The appeal was the availability of property and the fact that the spot at 22nd Avenue S and 22nd Street was high and dry. His uncle built a garage and upstairs apartment. Later, three lots were added and the shop was built. In those days, the area was not predominantly African American, Carter said. Hagstrom said he and Russo had no qualms about their neighborhood before they bought Carter's or since, even though the shop was damaged by fire during the October 1996 racial disturbances. The showroom was set afire, but Russo managed to put the flames out with a garden hose. Neighbors helped them, and Carter's was open for business the next morning after the fire was put out about 12:30 a.m. Hagstrom said he did not know whether Carter's was targeted because it is white owned. "There was just a lot of upheaval and we got our windows smashed. We are lit up at night and those are big plate glass windows." Hagstrom and Russo had weddings the weekend after the disturbances. Because the roof and walls remained intact, Carter's stayed open. Its windows were boarded up. Remodeling came in January 1997, in time for Valentine's Day. Hagstrom said he and Russo have had a few altercations with African Americans who demand to know what the white men are doing in that neighborhood. He sloughs it off. "We (Carter's) have been here since 1956. Why should we leave?" Ingram, whose shop was not damaged during the disturbances, said he has had no trouble in his shop's neighborhood, which is nearly all African American, he said. The disturbances heavily underscored the lack of prosperity in the area south of Central Avenue. That area came to be called Midtown, after several other names, and is targeted for improvement. Davis and Mayor Rick Baker want to bring a grocery to the area. The city has assembled property on 18th Avenue S at 22nd Street to make one site for a shopping center and grocery. "I would say the business climate in this area is very good," Hagstrom said, ticking off the construction of Academy Prep, the building of a Walgreens drugstore and the rebuilding of Badcock Furniture & Appliance store, destroyed in the disturbances.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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